A MASS demonstration was staged by protestors this on Tuesday morning at the start of a public inquiry to decide if 2,600 ‘green homes’ should be built at Dunsfold Park near Cranleigh.

More than 60 members of the campaign group Stop Dunsfold Park New Town gathered at Waverley borough council offices in Godalming waving placards and banners.

“We wanted to show the strength of feeling there is against these plans,” said the campaign group chairman Professor Chris Marks .

Dunsfold Park went to appeal when its masterplan for a “new Surrey village for the 21st century” was refused by Waverley last September.

It believes the proposed eco-settlement at the former World War II airfield, which will include 900 low cost homes, is the ideal solution to help solve local affordable housing need.

Planning Inspector Anthony Davison opened the inquiry, which is due to take 16 days, and said he had been instructed to report to the Secretary of State, who will take the final decision, with his recommendations.

Arguing for the scheme in his opening statement Dunsfold Park QC Christopher Katkowski said: “Those who have comfortable homes of their own in the countryside do not necessarily have at the forefront of their minds the needs of those who cannot afford them.

“We say to the Secretary of State that here is an opportunity to put the words of her policies concerning the delivery of housing and especially affordable housing, supporting smart economic growth and tackling climate change, into action.”

Speaking against the plan, Waverley QC Timothy Mould said: “The real issue for this public inquiry and thereafter for the Secretary of State is not whether the appellant’s scheme is imaginatively conceived, well designed or thoughtfully presented.

“The issue is whether there is any justification for the introduction of a new settlement on the scale proposed into this relatively remote and largely undeveloped rural location.”